July 1, 2013

Insights by Michelle Libby

Summer vacation has officially arrived here in Windham/Raymond. The traffic has increased, the days are hotter (much, much hotter) and the children are out of school. It’s this last part that I’m having some new found trouble with. My children are no longer young enough to go to daycare, and paying for them to go to camp all summer seems extravagant, especially when I want someone to hang at the lake or pool with me. Selfish, I know. My daughter decided to get a summer job. Last year she did two weeks at a Girl Scout camp at Kittery Point. When I dropped her off, it was like leaving her at the end of the Earth. Rustic was the only word that came close. This year she decided to get a job almost two hours away from home as a counselor at an overnight camp. She’ll be gone all summer only contacting us by phone and when we stop by for a few hours, but it’s not like she’s in Raymond. This leaves my son without someone to pal around with all day while mom’s at work. So I ask…what do you do with your teenagers while you are off at work every day? As I am writing this, my son is sitting next to me playing video games, with some work he could be doing, sitting on the floor next to him. I’ve scheduled for him to attend a few camps, act as a counselor at a vacation bible school and spend some time with the grandparents. I know he’s old enough to stay home alone, but sitting in the A/C playing video games doesn’t seem that productive to me. I plan to take him to the Windham Public Library to get information on all of their programs and force him to write book reviews to keep up his skills. In the end, I’m at a loss as to what parents do in situations like this, so if you have any advice, I’d love to print some next week. Email me at michelle@TheWindhamEagle.com.